Lifting or hauling gear



.l. ,H. WALKER.

LIFTING 0R HA'ULIN'G GEAR. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6.191s.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

Inventor. -k W i UNITED STATES JOAH HAIG'H WALKER, OF WOOLWICH, ENGLAND.

"ATENT OFFICE.

. LIFTING on I-IAULING GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented N 29 1921 Application filed December 6, 1918. 'Serial No. 265,528;

with Lifting or Hauling Gears, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lifting or hauling gear of the kind wherein a flexible rope or cableway having a traveling carrier upon it, from which the load to betransported is suspended, is stretched, at a convenient elevation between the two points at which the load is to be lifted and deposited.

In such ropes or cableways it is a common practice to attach each of the two ends of the rope to a support, such supports resisting the pull of the sagging cable by means of ropes or other devices attached either to depending weights or to suitable anchorages on the ground.

According to my invention the rope or cableway is attached'to the two ends of a beam or strut of sufficient strength to resist or counteract the horizontal or inclined pulls of the sagging cableway, such beam or strut with its cableway constituting av movable unit which may rest upon or be suspended from suitable supports, or be directly supported at one end and suspended at the other without the employment of any external means for resisting the pull of the said cableway.

In order to counteract the tendency of the beam to bend or sag downward under the force of gravity acting upon it or upon any masses attached thereto and at the same time provide lightness of construction I prefer to attach the cableway below the longitudinal axis of the said beam or strut so that the stresses shall have a tendency'to bend or buckle the said beam or strut'upward;

To enable my invention to be fully undertraversing a carrier uponthe said cableway,

and Figs. 2 to 7 are diagrams, hereinafter described, illustrating various ways in which the beam or strut may be applied.

In these figures a indicates the beam or strut which may be a braced, lattice or other structure and which is advantageously con: structed with downward projections or extensionsa a at the extremities to which the rope or'cablcway b on whichl'the carrier 5 runs is attached and in which the sheaves or pulleys c, c over which the ropes for travers .ing the carrier and raising and lowering the load are mounted, whereby the stresses-put on the said beam will tend to make'it buckle upward, as indicated in an exaggerated degree by the dotted lines, and so counteract the tendency of the said beam to sag clownward in the center. 1 4

As hereinbefore stated the strut with its cableway may be directly supported upon walls or other supports and in such case the projectionsa a, hereinbefore'referred to, are advantageously arranged at a short dis tance from the ends, in a manner which will be clearly understood by reference to Fig.

2, so that when the strut is resting upon its supports the Working of the ropes for the pulleys c, 0 will notbe interfered with.

The system of cableway working may be of any convenient type and the motors and winches for hauling or paying out the various ropes may be fixed to the strut itself or to a carriage traveling ulpon therope with the operator therein. 'As shown inFig. 2,

wherein the strut is arranged in 'an inclined position, two winches are provided (diagrammatically indicated at d (P) beneath the upper end of the strut, one of the said winches serving to. draw the carrier 6 [up the cableway and the other for hauling in or paying out the lifting rope;

11 application very suitably employed for unloading barges. is shown in Fig. 3 wherein the strut a 1s at one end mounted upon a wheeled carrlage 6 upon whlchthe operating winches d, cl are placed while the I other end is supported say, from a derrick rope attached at 7, to the bight of a rope f connected to the ends of the strut. This arrangement allows of the strut a being 'inclined in either direction according to re-..

quirements glnstead of employing the rope 7 the strut may be supported at the outer end by a rope or rest on a rigid support.

In an application of my invention which 1 is advantageously used in connection with.

building slips, dry doc-ks or the like, the strut" is suspended at both ends by suitable tackle in traveling towers g, g as indicated in Fig. 4, the tackle on the tower 9 being advantageou'sly connected to a freely running carriage h on the upper end of the said tower so that the said tackle will always hang substantially vertically above its point of attachment to the strut at whatever elevation the said strut may be placed.

In this arrangement in addition to the ropes for traversing the. load, additional ropes 2', 2' are advantageously provided, con- 7 nected to the strut at its extremities and by means of which the strut may be raised or luffed, say, to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, to clear the mastsv or funnels of a' ship or-other obstructions.

Instead of constructing the strut a in a single length it may be in two sections hinged together at a point j as shown in Fig.5, say by means of a knuckle joint which tion in which it can be traversed without interfering with the shipping lying at the dock side.

A strut a with or without a joint can be mounted upon two pairs of shear legs Z carried upon a truck m and hinged thereto and to the strut, this arrangement being very advantageously employed for unloading from a barge to a quay, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 6, or from a quay to a railway truck, as shown in Fig. 7, or vice versa.

It is understood that the arrangements above described are only given as examples of different ways in which my invention may be applied and that many other methods of mounting the strut can be devised without departing from my invention.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and 1n what manner the same Is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is l. A load transfer apparatus including, 'a substantially stralght strut, supporting means for the strut, said strut being of such length and weight and the supporting means engaging the strut at such points that the central portion of the strut normally tends to sag downwardly under the force of gravity, a flexible member having its ends fixed to the underside of the ends of the strut, and a load supporting carriage movably mounted on said flexible member and movable along the same, whereby the weight of the load to be transported tends to buckle the strut upwardly at its central portion thereby counter-acting the force of gravity which tends to make the strut sag downwardly at the center, and enables a comparatively light weight strut to be used for transferring heavy loads over long spans.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the central portion. of the ,strut is independent of any structure preventing its movement upward relatively to its ends.

3. An apparatus of the kind defined in claim 1 in which the fstrut is formed of a plurality of parts connected together by a knuckle joint whichpreventsupward move ment of the central relatively to its ends 4. An apparatus of the kind defined in claim 1 in which the strut is supported by a pair of shear legs.

5. In a load transfer apparatus of the kind herein referred to, the combination with an inclined strut, of a rope having its ends secured to the ends of said strut, means for directly supporting the strut, atheisting cable, and a carrier on the rope connected to said hoisting cable and designed to be traversed in one direction along the rope from end to end thereof by gravity, or by the pull ofthe hoistin cable, or by portion of the strut a combination of these two forces, said strut;

being formed of a plurality of parts connected together by a. knuckle joint which prevents upward movement of the central portion of the strut relatively toits ends.

6. A load transfer apparatus including an inclined strut, a rope attached to each end thereof, means for directly supporting the strut, a hoisting cable, a carrier on th rope connected to the hoisting cable and designed to be traversed in one direction along the rope from end to end thereof by. gravity or by the pull of the hoisting cable, or by a combination of these two forces,.and a pair of shear legs for supporting said strut.

7. A load transfer apparatus comprising an overhead strut to the underside of which a rope is attached'in such ,afinanner as to' tend to buckle the gaidstrut upward under the weight of the load to be traversed, thereby counteracting the force of gravity which tends to make the strut sag inthe middle, due to 1ts own weight, and supporting means connected to the strutin. such manner as to permit the central portion of the strut to be buckled upwardly-under the weight "supported by its ends.

J OAH HAIGH WALKER. 

